Poverty News and Research

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Oral Cancer Foundation initiates program to donate VELscope screening systems

The Oral Cancer Foundation recently initiated a program of donating VELscope® Oral Cancer Screening Systems to free clinics and others located in, and helping communities with, underserved populations.

5 Oct 2009

Study points to subtle differences between boys and girls' attitudes to multiple drugs

New research by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers looks at the specific ways parents and peers influence teenagers to smoke, drink and use marijuana in combination.

3 Oct 2009

Senate finance amends reform bill to allow states to negotiate with insurers

The Senate Finance Committee approved a handful of amendments aimed at cutting costs for consumers — although some disagree that that's what the changes will do — in its health care reform bill Thursday.

3 Oct 2009

Budget cuts to affect low-income seniors

An 81-year-old San Francisco woman with dementia, little money and an equally aged caregiver sister who is suffering from cancer.

3 Oct 2009

Reid's Medicaid deal for Nevada draws criticism

Politico: "Reid moved swiftly to ensure that his home state of Nevada wouldn't be hurt by Medicaid changes included in the health care reform bill moving through the Senate Finance Committee. Now some of his Democratic colleagues are demanding the same treatment for their states."

1 Oct 2009

Democrats shoot down Republican abortion amendment, others pass

Members of the Senate Finance Committee wrangled Wednesday over proposed amendments to tighten abortion restrictions to the panel's health reform bill, with Democrats ultimately defeating the effort.

1 Oct 2009

Social shame works better than Government subsidies: Study

Government subsidies persuade some people to change habits, but social shame works even better, suggests a recent study of efforts to reduce elevated childhood death and disease rates blamed on the microbial pathogens that cause diarrhea in rural India.

1 Oct 2009

Novartis Oncology, Amgen, GlaxoSmithKline and Veridex honored with 2009 Prix Galien Award

The Prix Galien USA committee celebrated members of the science and biotechnology industries last night for the development and discovery of drugs and technologies that improve the human condition.

1 Oct 2009

BMJ examines new strategy for universal healthcare in Asia Pacific

A BMJ News article examines a new strategy, which was released at the 60th session of WHO's regional committee for the Western Pacific, calling for countries in the Asia Pacific region to "strive for universal access to health care."

1 Oct 2009

IDRI and Academia Sinica sign Memorandum of Understanding

On behalf of The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Academia Sinica, a research institution based in Taiwan, to collaborate in target-based screening for the discovery of new tuberculosis (TB) drugs.

30 Sep 2009

Opinion: 'Microland' to fight poverty; ensuring quality, timely drugs for Africa

In a Forbes column, Elisabeth Eaves, deputy editor at Forbes, examines the concept of "'microland:' securing rights to small plots of land for the world's poorest."

30 Sep 2009

The still elusive malaria vaccine

A deadly disease, malaria afflicts 350-500 million people worldwide each year and kills more than a million people. Transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, the disease occurs in more than 100 countries and territories, with at least 40 percent of the world's population at risk.

30 Sep 2009

CIHR experts discuss the impact of poverty on health

At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day and 25,000 children die each day due to poverty, according to the World Bank and UNICEF.

30 Sep 2009

Africa's agricultural sector grew in '08, 'concerted' policy action needed for growth to continue, FAO paper says

The growth of sub-Saharan Africa's agricultural sector in 2008 is a "a break with the past," but "concerted and purposeful policy action" is required for developments to continue, according to a new U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) paper, VOA News reports (De Capua, 9/28).

29 Sep 2009

Changes to Louisiana's healthcare system can promote standardized care for patients

Before Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana's healthcare system was strained, with a quarter of the population living below the poverty line and an estimated 20 percent uninsured. Healthcare for this population was provided through the state-run Charity Hospital and financed through Medicaid DSH (Disproportionate Share Hospital) dollars.

29 Sep 2009

G20 to focus on global poverty

The move to make the G20 the world's leading economic body holds potential for broader coordination in the global fight against poverty and hunger, though it may also pose risks for achieving promises made by G8 leaders at previous summits, say aid policy experts at World Vision.

26 Sep 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

A study appearing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases explores how well access to safe drinking water reduces rates of diarrhea experienced by 6-month-old infants born to HIV-infected mothers following weaning.

25 Sep 2009

G20 countries could tax foreign exchange to help achieve U.N. MDGs, opinion piece says

The G20 countries "could help both the poor and the global economy by fully financing lagging efforts to fight poverty and disease worldwide, and the best way to do this would be to impose a very small tax on the prosperous foreign exchange industry," Philippe Douste-Blazy, a former French foreign minister who is a special adviser to the U.N. secretary general on innovative financing, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

25 Sep 2009

African Leaders Malaria Alliance launched at U.N. General Assembly

On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday, African heads of state formed a 20-member African Leaders Malaria Alliance with the goal of eliminating deaths from malaria by 2015, the Associated Press writes. "With an estimated 500 million annual cases, Africa is the continent most affected by malaria, accounting for 86 percent of all cases and 91 percent of all malaria deaths worldwide, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania said at the alliance's launch," according to the news service (9/24).

25 Sep 2009

Partnership focused on improving health and reducing poverty in Haiti

Fonkoze, BRAC, BRAC USA, Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante, CGAP, CHF partners in rural development and Linked Foundation have joined forces to commit $50 million towards a two-year effort to implement a proven, replicable, cost-effective approach to improving health and reducing extreme poverty in Central Haiti.

25 Sep 2009